Azerath
by Neverend
Summary: Raven is scared of nothing... except her past. Now, a nightime visit is about to send her back to a place she hoped to forget forever.
1. A Nighttime Visit

She ran down a long, all too familiar hallway. Her feet thudded against the dark grey stone of the floor, and the sound was thrown back by the vaulted ceiling and absorbed by the bright tapestries on the walls. The sound pressed on her and made it hard to think, but she knew she had to get somewhere, stop someone, do something.   
  
Her hands were clenching fabric. The same cloth was wrapping around her legs and fluttering behind her, making a loud rustling. She was wearing skirts, she realized, immense, billowing skirts of the kind that she had always hated and hoped never to wear again. They tripped her up and she swore as she fought to keep her footing.  
  
The end of the hall was looming closer. She reached it and careened around the corner. Now she could see a long mirror on the right wall, the torchlight gleaming off its surface. She rushed past, but not before catching a glimpse of her reflection. Four eyes shone back at her.  
  
Raven was suddenly and completely awake. She sat up in bed, her rasping breath tearing at her throat. She tried to find her center, but her emotions were in a flurry and she could feel her power sizzling in response.  
  
Pale, trembling fingers slowly reached up and touched her face. Through the cold layer of sweat there Raven felt smooth skin. Her fingers moved up to her eyes and ran over the curve of her lids. Two eyes were there, only two. Assured that a new pair of eyes had not grown on her face, she was able to calm her power, and with it her pounding heart.  
  
Rising from her bed, for she knew that she would not be able to fall asleep again, Raven smoothed out the creases in nightgown. The black satin reached to just above her knees. The nightgown had been a Christmas gift from Beast Boy a year or so back, and she had sent him a killing glare over it, but later on she had to admit to herself that she liked it. Black was, after all, her color, and it was the perfect length. She hated long skirts that fouled up her feet, skirts like the kind she was wearing in her dream.  
  
She shuddered at the memory of her vision. It had been so clear, so detailed. Even for a moment after waking she had been convinced that she was back... back there.   
  
At the thought of it her powers surged up again in a crackling wave inside of her.  
  
"But I'm not there," Raven whispered to herself. She held a hand over her chest and could feel her heart thumping against the black satin. "I'm in Titan Tower. In Titan Tower, not there. Not there. I'll never be there again."  
  
At last she dropped her hand to her side. She was herself again; calm, steady, stony-faced Raven unfrightened by the fiercest of villains and monsters. Her hand groped on the bedside table for her clock. Instead, her fingers touched cold metal. It was her mirror, her own meditation mirror with its frame of twisted bronze set with purple stones. It was also the only thing she had kept from her old home. Normally, holding the mirror and remembering where it came from gave Raven strength, because it reminded her that she was stronger than that... place. Now, however, with the image of herself running down the corridor still haunting her mind the mirror merely made her fingertips feel cold. Quickly, she fumbled for the drawer handle. For a moment it seemed to be stuck, but finally it slid open with a faint creak. Stuffing the mirror in, she slammed the drawer shut and turned away, putting the mirror and all it represented out of her mind.   
  
It was pitch black in her room, but Raven didn't mind. She could see fine in the dark, better than any of the Titans but Cyborg, and he had an infrared eye. She had no trouble crossing her room in the dark, weaving around the various pieces of furniture and twisted statues to the bookshelf standing in the corner beside the door. She could not read the titles in the dark, but she didn't need to in order to find the book she wanted. Her hand went to it without thinking. Drawing the book from the shelf, she held it to her nose and breathed in, relishing the musty smell of leather and paper. The scent of good, dark poetry always helped her find her center, especially Edgar Allen Poe.  
  
Suddenly, Raven felt a need for hot chocolate. She had a weakness for chocolate that she kept carefully hidden, and the idea of reading "The Raven" while sipping a warm cup of cocoa seemed very appealing at the moment.  
  
With a light touch the door swished open, revealing the shadowed hallway. She stepped out of her room, holding her treasured book to her side. Already the eerie feeling left behind by her dream was almost erased. As she walked down the hall toward the kitchen, she felt only barely off balance. She wasn't quite normal yet, but a few hours of reading followed by meditation should take care of that.  
  
Raven rounded a corner, and stopped so suddenly her bare feet squeaked against the polished floor. She had heard sounds coming from the floor beneath her. They were faint sounds, so she had to listen hard to hear them, but they were there. Rustling, shuffling, an occasional thump. There was someone in Titan Tower.   
  
She considered waking up some reinforcements. Getting past the Tower's defenses was a difficult task, so the intruder would probably be tricky to defeat, but... What was that greenish glow in the corner of her vision? Raven spun around, her hands raised, her tongue loose and ready to utter her Words.   
  
Starfire was floating in front of her, surrounded by an emerald halo and eyes shining like green Christmas lights. A delicate white lace nightgown drifted ghost-like around her ankles.  
  
"It is only me, Starfire," said the girl in her typical, too loud voice. "Did you hear the noises as well, Raven?"  
  
"Yes, I did," Raven hissed. "Now be quiet and shut off that light or else whoever's down there will see us before we see him."  
  
Obediently, Starfire stopped glowing and fell to the floor with a faint thump. Raven winced, but the sounds from below went on uninterrupted. Whoever was down there seemed not to have heard.   
  
Raven suddenly realized she was still holding her book. She set it on the floor, propped against the wall. By then Starfire had gotten to her feet. And was beckoning for Raven to come on.  
  
The two girls reached the staircase and tip-toed down it, side by side. Now, with Starfire so close beside her, Raven realized that she was glad that she was with her and not one of the other Titans. The auburn-haired beauty's flying and alien super-strength would be useful, and Starfire was also the only one that knew Raven's past. Or, at least, most of it.  
  
Her thoughts were interrupted by a crash from down the stairs, followed by a muffled curse. They rounded the last turn of the stairs, and Raven could finally see the dark form causing the noise.  
  
"Why does he not require a light?" Starfire whispered.  
  
Raven waved one hand for silence, then whispered back to her companion, "I'm going to turn on the light. As soon as it's on, I want you to fly out and tackle him. I'll block the exits." Starfire made an affirmative noise as Raven placed her hand on the wall and slid it over until her fingers touched the light switch. With a deep breath, she flicked it on.  
  
Golden light flooded the room at the same time that a green bolt shot past her. Raven reached into herself and whispered, "Azerath, Metrion, Zinthos." She felt power sizzling around her hands and the world seemed to glow as it sparked in her eyes. From her hands she sent the power in a jagged, white-rimmed black ray to lift a heavy table and move it in from of the door. She then blocked the other exit with Cyborg's massive armchair.  
  
Meanwhile, Starfire was wrestling with the black clad intruder. They appeared pretty evenly matched, the girl almost securing the stranger's arms behind his back before he turned and slammed her into the wall, only to see her bounce back and grab hold of him again. Raven was about to step into the room and help when the intruder opened his mouth and yelled. "Azerath."   
  
A surge of black white sparks sizzled to life around him. Raven suddenly felt very cold.  
  
"Kuruk," continued the man as he tried to push Starfire away. The power around him strengthened, but it was still faint and glowing all over him, not focusing on his hands and eyes, like Raven had trained her own power to do. She knew, in the back of her mind, that poorly controlled power like that could cause serious problems, and yet her feet remained fixed firmly on the bottom step.  
  
"Tel--mmmph!" The stranger had begun the last word of his chant, but was cut off by Starfire jumping on his back and clamping her hand over his mouth. That was quick thinking, Raven thought sluggishly, she hadn't thought Starfire had it in her. The intruder shook Starfire violently, clawing at the hand still covering his mouth, but she held tight and refused to slide off of his back. Finally, though hampered by having only free hand, she forced him stomach down to the floor, his wrists held tightly behind his back.  
  
"It is very impolite of you to come into our home without of our permission," she told the back of his head. "Of course it is also impolite of me to keep you from having your turn talking. So I will let go of your mouth, if you promise not to say any more magic words. Promise?"  
  
The man stopped struggling and seemed to consider for a moment. Finally he raised his head in a way Raven guessed was the best nod he could manage on the floor with an arm around his neck. Starfire promptly released his mouth, though she kept her hold on his wrists.  
  
"Could you please roll me over," he gasped.  
  
"Why would you wish it?" asked Starfire with a puzzled expression on her face.  
  
"Well, not that I'm not perfectly comfortable on my stomach with a knee shoved into my back, but I really should get a closer look at you." He spoke in dripping, sardonic tones one wouldn't expect from someone in such a helpless position.  
  
"Why would you wish to 'get a closer look at me'? Surely you have seen me already?"  
  
"Regrettably, I was unable to focus on your undoubtedly pretty face, being too preoccupied with our little dance."  
  
Starfire was even more puzzled now, and a deep furrow had appeared between her eyes. "But we were not dancing. We were fighting. You are a very good fighter by the way. Very few would have lasted as long as you did."  
  
"Thanks, but just move already."  
  
"That is not very polite of you."  
  
"Please. Just move already, please."  
  
Starfire smiled brightly. "That is better." She grasped each of his shoulders with a hand, and so quickly Raven could hardly see it happening, she had him turned onto his back and was straddling him with a hand planted firmly on each of his arms.   
  
If the man had been hoping to escape while Starfire turned him over, he didn't look disappointed at failing. Instead he grinned broadly, looking up at Starfire's face only inches from his, her reddish hair tumbling down to the floor on either side of his head. "Now this is much more comfortable.  
  
"What?" asked Starfire, the crease reappearing in her forehead. "I don't understand..."  
  
"Of course you don't," he cut her short. "Don't worry about it."   
  
Raven now noticed that the trespasser was a very young, with a tumble of blue-grey hair. He was also, now that she had a look at him, rather good looking.   
  
At the moment, his eyes-pitch black in contrast with his light hair and skin- were fixed on Starfire., but he then dropped his head back so that it bumped on the floor. "No, you're definitely not her. I suppose I should be grateful for that."  
  
Starfire was clearly still confused but seemed to have given up asking him to clarify his statements. "Who are you talking about? Who is 'her'?"  
  
Raven, however, thought she knew who 'her' was. She knew, and oddly enough, the thought didn't terrify her. Perhaps all those years learning to suppress emotion had payed off.  
  
"I'm looking for Lady Aleran," he said, "can you tell me where she is?"  
  
Despite having expected it, Raven couldn't stop herself from reeling. She held one hand to the wall to steady herself. Apparently she hadn't lost all feeling on the subject.  
  
"I'm sorry," said Starfire, "but I know no one by that name."  
  
The man sighed. "Somehow I was expecting it." He let his head roll to one side so that his eyes were directed at Cyborg's armchair where it lay on it's side blocking the door. His black eyes narrowed at it. He spoke, and his voice, though steady, hinted at barely controlled frustration. "I was so sure she was here." At the last word his palms slapped the floor, and the armchair exploded in a burst of black light.   
  
Starfire jumped slightly but nothing else, having been used to outbursts like that from Raven, and, for a brief period a few months ago, herself. The man, however, looked dumbfounded. "How? I don't understand. That hasn't happened in years. That never happens to anyone older than six."  
  
"You'll find that your powers are amplified in this world." Raven stepped out of the shadows and slowly walked over to the two people lying on the floor. "It takes more discipline to control it."  
  
The man looked up at her and smiled, just as he had smiled at Starfire. "Milady Aleran, I have been sent to find you, to take you home. Azerath needs you." 


	2. The Whole Story

AN: I'm not quite as satisfied with this chapter as I am with the first one. It seems a bit hectic to me. I'm also not that good at writing either Beast Boy or Cyborg, and I'm also terrified of contradicting cannon (I only starting watching the show a month or so ago, when we started getting the network) However, I hope it doesn't dissapoint.  
  
"WHAT'S GOING ON HERE!?"  
  
Raven turned to see Robin, Beast Boy, and Cyborg standing at the foot of the stair in full uniform. It was Beast Boy who had spoken, of course.  
  
"I see you've finally made it,"drawled Raven.  
  
"Robin!" Starfire cried delightedly from on top of the stranger.   
  
"Um... Starfire," said Robin, looking at her through his mask, "I think you can get off of him now."  
  
"Are you sure?" said the man on the floor, "because I'm perfectly comfortable right here."  
  
But Starfire had already jumped up and ran over to stand beside Robin. "Raven and I found this strange person wandering around here in the dark. He says he's here for Raven, but he called her a strange name. Lady-"  
  
"Aleran," the intruder completed as he got to his feet and brushed himself off. " Lady Aleran Metrion of the House of Zinthos. You say she calls herself Raven here?"  
  
The Titans nodded.   
  
"I'm Laros Kuruk of the House of Teleth." He smiled. "I do see how she created her new name. In the ancient language of the Words, Aleran is 'black' and Metrion is 'bird'. Black bird. Clever."  
  
"Raven was my parents' name for me," said Raven. "My teachers and my friends called me that as well. Only servants and strangers knew me as Aleran."  
  
"You never told me that," said Starfire with a slight pout.   
  
"I must have forgotten. Besides, Raven is my name, my true name, that is.." She strode forward so that she was standing close enough to Laros to stare directly into his black eyes. "Did my father send you?"  
  
He snorted. "Do you think Hailorn would send just one person to fetch his long lost daughter after four years trying to find her? If he knew where you were you'd have a swarm of Sentinels in your den."  
  
Raven considered this for a moment. What he said did make sense. "In that case," she said at last, "who did send you?"  
  
"It was Bentris."  
  
She couldn't help smiling at that. "So the old man's still alive? I'm glad to hear it. How is he?"  
  
"That's what I came to talk to you about." Laros' wry smile vanished and he looked suddenly grim. "He's sick."  
  
"Sick? How sick?"  
  
"We don't think he'll live through it."  
  
Dazed, Raven closed her eyes. Her most trusted teacher was dying. She, realized, however, that it wasn't unexpected. He was old. Old people die. Her eyes snapped back open. "Well, you've told me, you can leave now."  
  
"It's not just that." He reached up and pushed his blue-tinged hair out of his eyes. "Hailorn, your father- he's getting worse."  
  
"Worse than he already was?"  
  
"I know it's hard to believe, but yes. He's hunting down anyone who opposes him. Some he kills in horrible ways and hangs their bodies from the wall..."  
  
"That's nothing new," Raven interrupted.   
  
"Yes, but only he kills some of the people he takes in. Others are gone for a long while and when they come back, they're changed. It's not like they're suddenly fanatically loyal to Hailorn, but afterwards they're... well, they're blank."  
  
"Blank?"  
  
"Yes, blank. It's hard to explain. It's like they're just sort of living without really living, without thinking or feeling. They're dolls, dummies, shells. And with this on top of losing Bentris... " He shook his head despairingly. "In short, the Secret Sentinels need a new leader. You."  
  
"Wait just a minute here!"  
  
Everyone jumped. During this entire conversation the other teenagers in the room had been watching Laros and Raven intently. Now, however, Beast Boy was striding into the middle of the room waving his skinny green arms frantically. He inserted himself between the two of them and looked up into the Laros' face.   
  
"Are you telling me Raven's dad is some sort of evil overlord guy? "Cuz I can definitely see how that could happen. I mean, where else could Raven had gotten it? And where's this planet you're talking about anyway?"  
  
"It's not a planet," said Raven, "it's a dimension, and if you will all excuse me I have to go and... think things over. Goodnight." With that she turned and walked swiftly toward the stairs.   
  
"Lady Arelan!" called Laros.  
  
"My name is Raven," she said without turning around.  
  
"Uh, Raven," said Cyborg tentatively as she passed, "you left your book in the hall."  
  
Raven snatched the book of poetry out of his outstretched hands and promptly disappeared up the winding staircase.  
  
After she was gone, everyone was left standing about in awkward silence, Beast Boy beside Laros, and the rest bunched together near the wall. It was Cyborg that spoke first.  
  
"Hey! What happened to my chair?" He had finally noticed the pile of blackened wood lying scattered in front of the door.  
  
Laros scratched the back of his head. "I sort of, um, blew it up it." Eyeing Cyborg's bulk warily he added, "On accident, you understand."  
  
For a moment Cyborg seemed to glower in fury, but suddenly his face broke into a wide grin. "Don't worry about it, dog. Raven was blowing up stuff for months after she got here."  
  
Laros breathed an audible sigh of relief.  
  
"So, weird alien dude," said Best Boy, "are you gonna tell us now?"  
  
"Tell you what?"  
  
"You know, Raven's back story. Her mysterious origins and all that. I don't know about these guys, but I've been dying to find out about her for ages."  
  
Starfire raised her hand to stop his talking. "I don't think Raven would like us discussing her without her here. It is a very rude thing to do. If she wanted you to know her history she would have told you like she told me."  
  
Robin nodded. "I agree with..." He paused and looked at Starfire. "What do you mean 'like she told me'? You know where Raven came from?"  
  
"And you didn't tell us!" burst out Beast Boy.  
  
"I was told in confidence," she said in a very dignified voice.   
  
"But did she Aleran tell you the whole story," said Laros, "or only her story."  
  
"I do not understand what you mean."  
  
"You see, our blackbird's story began when she was born, less than twenty years ago. The whole story, the story of Azerath, stretches back for centuries before that."  
  
"He smiled broadly at Starfire. "Should I continue?"  
  
She bit her lip. "I suppose you can tell us that, as long as you promise none of it is about Raven."  
  
Laros placed a hand on his chest. "I swear on my honor as a Secret Sentinel."  
  
"What does that mean?" Robin was leaning against the wall with his arms crossed over his chest, glaring at Laros from behind his mask.  
  
"If you'll be patient for just a moment, mysterious masked figure, you'll find out. Do you mind if I sit down? It's a long story."  
  
Beast Boy, Cyborg, and Starfire shook their heads. Robin merely continued to stare fiercely at Laros, who ignored him and sank into Robin's chair, stretching his long legs in front of him.  
  
"The first thing you all should know, I suppose, is that the world of Azerath has only one city."  
  
Starfire's green eyes widened. "Only one?"  
  
"Yes, and it's not like this strange city either. It's much larger, for one thing, and the buildings aren't thrown about randomly. They're all connected, seamlessly, almost making one huge building."  
  
"What is your city called?" asked Starfire.   
  
"The City. Whoever named it wasn't being very creative.  
  
"Anyway, for miles around the city there's nothing but the grey desert. Beyond that there are mountains to the north and west, and the Sea to the east, though only few have ever seen it. It's generally believed that the desert goes on forever to the south, though some say that there's another city in that direction, surrounded by grasslands. But that's just a myth.  
  
"No one's ever gone very far away from the City, at least no one that ever returned. There are creatures in the wilderness, you see, dangerous creatures, and with them as well as the Arek-ai, there's not much exploring done."  
  
"Arek-ai?" It was Beast Boy. "That's a nasty sounding name."  
  
"And it suits them. They live in tribes in the mountains, and every one of them is brutal and violent. They have black-"  
  
"Like mine?" asked Cyborg.   
  
"No, not at all like yours. Yours is brown, theirs is pitch black. Their hair is   
  
red-"  
  
"Like mine?" It was Starfire this time.  
  
"No, their hair is of a much brighter red than yours, like cherries. Their eyes are red too, and I see none of you has even somewhat red eyes so I'll move on. The point is that they aren't always content to stay in the mountains and wait for some foolish Azerathi to come out and find them. Every decade or so they'll band together all of their tribes and attack the City. What with them and the monsters roaming everywhere, it was a very dangerous world. That was, until the Sentinels were founded.  
  
"All Azerathi have some psychic ability, but the Sentinels... The Sentinels are, or at least they were, people who were talented to begin with, and then spent their lives distanced from the rest of society, meditating and honing their skills. They grew to be immensely powerful, and it was their duty to protect the City and its citizens.   
  
"This worked well for a while until, about a thousand years ago, a brash young Sentinel-in-training named Veldrek came along."  
  
Beast Boy snorted. "Nice name, I wonder what the kids at school called him."  
  
Laros ignored this outburst and went on. "Somehow Veldrek got it into his head that he could wipe out all of the Arek-ai on his own, so he snuck out of the City in the dead of night and traveled to the mountains to find them. He did not find the Arek-ai, but something else instead. When he returned much later, he brought with him a mysterious object, strange and evil powers, and an extra set of eyes."  
  
"Four eyes!" Beast Boy and Cyborg yelled at the same time. Everyone turned to look at them.  
  
"I know it's probably disturbing to you..." said Laros.  
  
"Nah, it's not that. You see, a while ago we went into Raven's weird mirror thing..."  
  
Cyborg clapped one large, metallic hand over Beast Boy's mouth. "That reminded us of something we saw once in Raven's room, is all. You finish your story."  
  
"There's not much more to tell. The Sentinels who Veldrek could not convert to his cause he killed. Since then they have ruled the City cruelly and absolutely. Those that had once been charged with protecting the people became their prison guards and tormentors. And so it has been for the past millennia."   
  
Robin was still looking at Laros suspiciously. "Didn't you say you were one of these Sentinels? How do we know we can trust you?"  
  
"Do you see four eyes? I'm a Secret Sentinel, part of an underground group that studies the old ways, increasing our powers through meditation and balance rather than through unnatural means. As for why you should trust me... You don't have to. I only need Lady Aleran to trust me."  
  
"Her name is Raven," said Robin.  
  
"Um... boys?" Starfire raised one hand weakly into the air.  
  
There was a pause before Cyborg answered, "Yeah, Star?"  
  
"I'm going up to talk to Raven."  
  
"Are you sure you want to do that?" asked Beast Boy. "She'll probably rip her head off and feed it to her creepy, four-eyed pet birds."  
  
"I'm sure," said Starfire, and, turning, she started up the stairs. 


	3. Through a Closed Door

AN: Um... a bit short, but should do for now. I finished it a few days ago and was intending to add to it, but I realized that that would take forever. My, I write slowly.  
  
Starfire walked slowly down the hall and stopped in front of Raven's door. Hesitantly, she reached out to knock and paused with her knuckles inches from the smooth, metallic surface. She wanted to help Raven, she really did, but deep within she doubted whether she could. Starfire knew that, sometimes at least, Raven thought of her as a bit of an idiot, and she didn't know whether she could get the other girl to listen to her.   
  
But then, there had been those few, rare instants when Raven had confided in Starfire, and she had sensed a special sort of bond between them. It was a trust entirely different from the kind Starfire shared with Cyborg or Beast Boy, or Blackfire before she turned into a betrayer, or that strange and confusing brand of faith she had in Robin. Raven, she reminded herself, didn't even have anyone to trust the way she trusted Robin. If she were to be helped in this confusing time, it would be up to Starfire to do the helping.  
  
Taking a deep breath and shutting her eyes, she knocked.  
  
"Go away Starfire," said Raven's even voice, muffled through the door.  
  
"How did you know..."  
  
"That it was you?" the muted voice interrupted. "I've been expecting you."  
  
"Oh." There was a moment's silence, then Raven asked "Are you gone yet?"  
  
"No, and I do not intend to leave."  
  
"I suspected as much. Listen, I've already made my decision, so nothing you say is going to have any effect on what I do. Got it?"  
  
Starfire turned and leaned her back against the door, her head turned sideways so that her ear was turned to the metal. "I know that, Raven. I know you think I am completely... unaware, but truly I am not. I simply wanted... wanted to remind you that you are not the only one who is away from home. You are not the only one who is scared that some of the things that you left behind will follow you here, and destroy the new home you are trying with all your might to create, but at the same time misses Allonian Barat and Chaklan poetry readings and... and never mind."  
  
She hesitated and plucked at the skirt of her white nightgown before continuing.  
  
"If my home planet were in danger, I do not know whether I would be able to leave, leave my new friends, my new family, to help it. I truly do not. Raven, you may go or you may stay, but you will not be alone."  
  
Starfire fell silent and listened for an answer through the door. None came. A long moment passed in silence.   
  
She stood straight and turned around, looking at the door. "Raven?"  
  
As if answer, it slid open, and Raven stepped out. She was fully dressed, wearing her deep purple cloak with its cowl pulled up to throw a sharp shadow over the upper part of her face.  
  
"Raven!" said Starfire again, this time in surprise.  
  
"I told you I already made my decision, didn't I?" She turned and walked quickly down the hall, the her cloak streaming slightly behind her. At the head of the stairs she turned.   
  
"And Starfire," she said, her eyes beneath the shadow of her hood looking away from the other girl, "I don't think you're unaware."  
  
With that she turned and disappeared down the stairs. Starfire stood, silent, in front of the open door leading to Raven's bedroom for a long minute before coming to her senses and running  
  
after her friend. 


	4. Decisions

AN: This just might be the most dialogue heavy story I have every written. Well, I suppose one must expect that when one has scenes with six characters who all want their say.   
  
  
  
Robin leaned against the wall with arms crossed, watching Beast Boy and Cyborg talking to Laros. Beast Boy was talking the most, accompanied by wide, sweeping gestures and much jumping up and down. Cyborg sometimes pitched in, laughing his great, booming laugh at his friend's comments. Laros was mostly quiet, though he smiled a lopsided smile and nodded his head.  
  
Robin considered going upstairs to find Starfire, thinking that perhaps he could help her talk to Raven. He decided against it, partly because he knew he wouldn't be able to help that much, but mostly because he wanted to keep his eye on Laros. There was something about him, something about the way he smiled and the way he talked, that Robin simply didn't trust.  
  
"Lady Aleran!"  
  
He was startled out of his thinking by Laros's cry. He turned to see Raven standing on the bottom step of the stairway, the end of her cloak puddling on the step behind her. She wasn't saying a word, but her eyes, gleaming in the shadow of her hood, looked around at each of them in turn. They fixed on Robin, then wandered to Beast Boy, and Cyborg, and finally Laros.  
  
Her eyes stayed there for a moment before fixing themselves straight ahead. "I've made my decision," she said, stepping out into the room. Raven turned toward Laros. "I will be going with you."  
  
Laros smiled and bowed. "Of course, Milady."  
  
"But," and here Raven's eyes narrowed dangerously, "only until my father is defeated, and no longer. I will not settle down in the City, I will not head the Sentinels, and I will not take care of any problems but him. Understood?"  
  
"Of course, Milady," he said again.  
  
"Don't call me that," there was acid in her voice. "And don't call me Aleran, either. I am Raven."  
  
"You do realize, don't you," Laros said, "that we have been trying to overthrow Hailorn for years? If you're going to stay in Azerath until he falls, you'll most probably be waiting for years as well. Are you sure you'll be able to stand my company for that long?"  
  
"I'll manage."  
  
Cyborg clapped his large hands together. "Okay then! When are we leaving?"  
  
Raven turned toward him and sighed. "We are not. I'm going and Laros is going, but the rest of you will be staying here."  
  
"What!" Beast Boy yelled, "You can't go conquering evil without us! We're a team!" He was so upset, his head was rapidly changing shape. First a green dog head sat on his shoulders, then a lizard, a rabbit, an eagle, and finally an elephant head that was so heavy it made him topple over.   
  
"I'm sorry," said Raven as Beast Boy sprang up from the floor, proper head restored. She continued, "But Azerath is a dangerous place, and if anything happened to any of you there, it would be my fault."  
  
"But..." cried Cyborg and Beast Boy at the same time.  
  
"And anyway, it's not your fight. He's my father, and I have to defeat him. Alone."  
  
"But..." they yelled again.  
  
"No buts, I'm going and you are not."  
  
Just then, Starfire came hurtling down the staircase and into the room, a blur of white nightdress and reddish hair. "Wait Raven, I–" She slid to a halt in front of the other girl. "Good you have not left yet. I am going with you!"  
  
"Yeah! And us too!" said Cyborg firmly.  
  
"No," said Raven, just as firmly.   
  
Flustered, Starfire turned to Robin, who had remained quiet during the entire exchange. "Please, Robin! Make Raven see that she must take us with her! We are her teammates, we are her friends, we are her family!"   
  
Robin remained silent for a moment more, and then said, slowly and carefully, "I understand why Raven would want to face her father alone. If I could take down Slade on my own..."  
  
"Robin!" Starfire reached out and grabbed his arm.   
  
"Wait a minute, Starfire, I'm not finished. I was saying, that I would if I could, but I understand that I need help when it comes to him, and Raven needs help when it comes to her father."  
  
Laros interrupted, "She will have the Secret Sentinels to help her, and we're not exactly weaklings."  
  
Robin nodded, a bit reluctant to admit that Laros had a point. "You're right about that. But so was Starfire when she said that we're Raven's family. We have a duty to her. Of course, we also have a duty to the city."  
  
"Exactly," said Raven. "You can't go and fight Father, because you have to stay here and fight crime. Trust me, the police are helpless without you."  
  
Robin nodded again. "That settles it. Titan's, we're staying here."  
  
There was an immediate uproar as Starfire, Cyborg, and Beast Boy all started talking at once.   
  
"Robin! You can not let her–"  
  
"Robin, dog, you can't seriously–"   
  
"Awww, come on Robin, you wanna go as much as–"  
  
Laros did not raise his voice, but somehow he managed to be heard above the clamor.   
  
"Excuse me if I intrude, being the outsider here, and all," everyone fell silent, "but it seems to me that one of you could go with the blackbird and I, and the others stay. We'd be even; three on this side, three on the other."  
  
Robin considered this. "I suppose three Titans could handle the city's crime for awhile."  
  
Smiles broke out on the three other teenagers' faces.   
  
It was Starfire whose face fell first. "But which one of us will go with Raven?"  
  
"That would be me," said Robin.  
  
"Hey!" cried Cyborg. "You're the only one who didn't want to go!"  
  
"And what if Slade attacks?" said Beast Boy. "You need to be here."  
  
Robin shook his head. "You can handle things without me."  
  
"That may be true..."  
  
"Anyway," interrupted Robin, "I need to keep an eye on him." He nodded toward Laros. "No offense."  
  
"None taken."  
  
Cyborg and Beast Boy both opened their mouths to speak, but Robin raised a hand to stop them. "As leader of the Teen Titans, my decision is final." He hesitated for a moment. "What do you think, Starfire," he asked, not looking at her.  
  
Starfire hesitated, biting her lip. "If you say that you should go Robin, I am happy to let you."  
  
"Okay then!" said Laros, clapping his hands. "Masked-One, Blackbird, shall we go?"  
  
Raven nodded. A moment later, Robin did as well. Without speaking the three of them moved toward the door.  
  
"Wait!" They stopped, turning toward Starfire.  
  
"We will accompany you," she said.  
  
Raven looked at her friend. "I'm not sure that's a good idea."  
  
"It is the polite thing to do," Starfire insisted.  
  
Raven nodded. "Let's go then."  
  
On the way out of Titan Tower, Robin asked her. "How are we going to get to this place, this Azerath?"  
  
"I'll explain when we get there." 


	5. Opening

Author's Note: Tada! I updated! Go me! Now I don't feel so guilty for not writing a word during my week of vacation. I'm taking a few risks with this chapter, and yearn for feedback. Is the confrontation believable? How about the hints of Robin/Starfire romance? Do I use to many adverbs? I strive always to improve, and only you can help me.  
  
****  
  
In the short time since they had left Titan Tower, the sky had lightened from black to grey, and a thin golden line had appeared along the horizon. Laros strode confidently down the sidewalk, the rest of the group trailing behind him. He talked as they walked.  
  
"It was one of the first Sentinels who discovered the existence of other worlds. The Sentinel -his name has been lost over the centuries- was meditating on the roof of the City's highest tower when a vision came to him. He saw another city, unlike our own in every way. At the time he believed that it was the City to the South, and he became determined to reach it.  
  
"He experimented for years, until, finally, he opened a portal. He died on the other side of it, know one knows quite how. After his death, various Sentinels discovered six other places throughout the city where, when meditating, one can see visions of other cities, each different and each wondrous. These points became known as the Seven Places of the Portals. We all learn to recite them as children. The Tower Roof, the Dungeon Corner, the Eastern Walltop..."  
  
Behind him, walking between Starfire and Robin, Raven joined in softly. "The Green Marble Balcony, the Marketplace Fountain, the Third Column, and the Meeting Hall Rafter." Laros smiled back at her. "Each one leads to a separate world, provided, of course, that you can open the portal."  
  
"Which one leads here?" asked Starfire.  
  
Laros opened his mouth to answer, but Raven spoke first. "None of them. A few years ago, Bentris, my teacher, discovered records that told of a lost, eighth Place of the Portals. He kept it secret, never sending anyone through, until me."  
  
Robin was gazing at the sky, where the sun was slowly rising, a red disk half buried in gold-tinged clouds. "Why did he send you? Why did you come here?"  
  
Raven didn't answer for a moment. Her eyes were turned down towards where her boots hit the cracked sidewalk.  
  
Laros was looking at her, and for once his look was not mocking. Indeed, it was almost concerned.  
  
"I can tell them, if it troubles you."  
  
She raised her eyes and glared at him. "I am perfectly capable of telling them myself."  
  
His impish grin returned. "Tell on, Blackbird."  
  
She fixed her ice-cold gaze on him for another moment before speaking again.  
  
"You'll need to understand what came before."  
  
Robin and Starfire nodded.  
  
"You should understand what my father's like by now, but my mother... She wasn't a Sentinel for one thing. I assume you've been told about the Sentinels?"  
  
They nodded again.  
  
"Well, she wasn't a Sentinel, though she was from a very old House with many powerful Sentinels among it's members, which I suppose is why Father married her. She was a delicate woman, small and quiet. I never was very close to her, or talked to her much. It was mostly because she turned me over to a nurse to raise, but also because I was a bit afraid. Not afraid of her, but afraid... afraid that I might break her somehow. She was so frail."  
  
Abruptly, Laros broke in. "Is."  
  
"What?"  
  
"Is. You've been saying 'was'. Lady Illia is still alive."  
  
Again there was a moment's silence, but Raven soon continued, her voice steady.   
  
"Father scared me too, for different, more obvious, reasons. He would never trust anyone else to train me in the use of my powers, so he did it himself. He intended me to become leader of the Sentinels after he died, and always made sure he knew where I was, always had me within reach. That control terrified me. Then, when I was nine years old, I managed to escape his attention long enough to go exploring. It was wonderful. I felt free for the first time in my life. After that, I was determined to continue my exploration. I found ways to sneak out, and back in again, and, miraculously, was never caught.   
  
"A few months after my first escape, I met Bentris. After that, my excursions weren't just pointless rambles for the sake of themselves, they were visits to Bentris. He taught me so much, trained me as a true Sentinel. He was more of a father to me than Hailorn ever was, though his age made him more like a grandfather.  
  
"Five years passed, and it was almost time for my fourteenth birthday, and my Ceremony. Bentris knew that he had to stop it. If I went through the Ceremony, I would be exposed to the Veldrek's Charm, and receive those twisted powers, which would, in turn, twist me. It was then that he told me of the eighth Place, and sent me through."  
  
Starfire and Raven were silent, seeming to still be taking in all that she had told them. After a moment, Starfire whispered, "How horrible." Her shapely hand reached behind Raven's back to lightly touch Robin's elbow. Raven smiled, seeing the gesture out of the corner of her eye. It amused her to see the comfort her friend could get just by touching him, and yet, somehow, deep within her, it hurt her too.  
  
****  
  
Beast Boy and Cyborg were not listening to Raven's story. Instead, they trailed behind the other teenagers, their heads leaning together.  
  
"You gonna stay behind?" muttered Cyborg.  
  
"Duh! You know me better than that!"  
  
Cyborg clamped a hand over his short, green friend's mouth. "Hey, quiet down. They'll hear us."  
  
Beast Boy nodded and the hand was dropped from his mouth. "Now," said Cyborg, "how are we gonna do this?"  
  
"I guess we'll just slip in after them."  
  
"Raven'll kill us on the other side."  
  
"She'll have to catch us first."  
  
"She'll so be able to catch us."  
  
"Well, maybe you, but Beast Boy can get away from any chick, scary mind powers or no scary mind powers."  
  
Cyborg rolled his one organic eye. "Whatever, dog. I just feel sorry for poor Star. She's got to handle all the crime by herself."  
  
Beast Boy dismissed his worries with a wave. "Eh, she can handle it."   
  
"Whatever, d-"  
  
"Hey!"  
  
Absorbed in their conversation, Cyborg and Beast Boy had crashed into the group in front of them, who had come to a stop. Cyborg's bulk knocked the much lighter Robin off his feet and into Laros, while Beast Boys's feet became entangled in the end of Raven's cloak.   
  
Swinging around, Raven grabbed the cloak and tugged. Beast Boy was pulled off his feet and into the air, his arms and legs flailing. Just before he hit the sidewalk he disappeared, replaced by a green butterfly. It fluttered up to Starfire's shoulder, dodging out of the way as Raven attempted to swat it.  
  
Meanwhile, ahead of them, Laros gave Robin a not too gentle shove away from him. "A little close for comfort there, Maskie," he said, brushing off his clothing.   
  
"Sorry Robin."  
  
"It's okay Cyborg. Not that I wouldn't have preferred being shoved into Starfire..."  
  
Laros cut in, "And not that I wouldn't have preferred Starfire being shoved into me..."   
  
Robin wheeled around to face Laros. "Listen here, Laros Kukuk of the house of Teething."  
  
"That's Kuruk of the house of Teleth, but it's fine that you forgot. I can't remember your name either. It's some sort of bird, right? Parrot, Toucan, Sparrow -stop me when I get it right-, Pheasant, Duck..."  
  
Robin took a step closer to Laros, so that their faces were inches apart. They were almost the same height, though Robin was perhaps an inch taller, so they could look directly into each other's eyes. Robin was perfectly still. Every muscle in his body seemed tightened, as if it would spring with the lightest touch.   
  
Laros stopped listing bird names, but otherwise did not seem intimidated. He smiled. "You seem upset, Pigeon. Anything I can do to help?"  
  
At that moment, Robin moved- like a snapping rubber band. Laros stepped back his eyes flying open. For the first time since breaking into Titan Tower he seemed to lose his composure. "Wha..."  
  
"Azerath, Metrion, ZINTHOS!"  
  
An orb of black light surrounded Robin and Laros and the two were wrenched apart and up into the air. Raven stepped forward, power trailing like flames from beneath her hood. Her hands were raised before her, holding them suspended above her head. "Children," she muttered, dropping her hands to her sides and letting her power die away. Robin fell to the sidewalk in a tangled heap, but Laros managed to land neatly on all fours.   
  
He brushed a blue grey curl away from his forehead as he climbed to his feet. While his startled expression was gone, he had not yet regained his smug calmness. "I suppose I should open it now."  
  
"Open what?" asked Beast Boy, who had resumed his usual form during the excitement.  
  
"The portal, what did you think he meant?"  
  
"No need to get all uppity, Raven."  
  
"I am not uppity. I am never uppity."  
  
"If you say so," said Beast Boy, chuckling.  
  
Raven's low-throated grumble sounded almost like a growl as she turned away from him and addressed Laros. "I will be opening the portal now. You have already seen what your powers are like in this world. It would not be wise to attempt something as... unpredictable as an opening."  
  
Laros raised his blue-grey eyebrows. "I didn't know you were an opener."  
  
She shrugged. "I came back here a few years ago. I wanted to know whether I could see Azerath again. I could."  
  
"Okay then," said Cyborg uneasily. "Let's get on with it-the locals are getting curious."  
  
He was right about that. Raven's miniature light show had drawn the gaze of the passerby, many of whom now stood gaping at the motley group.   
  
Robin nodded at Cyborg's suggestion, before turning to Raven. "Open it, then send me and Lord Kukuk here through," he said, sending a belligerent look Laros way.   
  
Raven turned toward the building they had stopped in front of. It was a pet shop, its windows full of squalling animals. She ignored them as she walked around the corner of the building into the narrow alley separating it and the neighboring music store. The rest of the Titans and Laros followed her.  
  
She closed her eyes, whispering, "Azerath, Metrion, Zinthos," and rose to the air. When she was about ten feet above the concrete, she folded her legs beneath her, resting a hand on each knee.  
  
"Azerath, Metrion, Zinthos."  
  
Robin was standing beside Starfire. He glanced over at her and saw that she was gazing up at Raven, not noticing his look. Her hair was rippling, shining, smooth, flowing down her back in a red-brown wave. As for her face... There was something about Starfire that was different, exotic. Something in the shape of her face, in those large, green eyes, marked her as a stranger to this world. But there was nothing unpleasant in that strange quality. It only made her that much more fascinating, that much more her.  
  
"Azerath, Metrion, Zinthos." A black spark appeared a few feet above Raven's head.  
  
He leaned over to her, and spoke softly, so that only she could hear. "Um, Starfire?"  
  
"Yes, Robin?" She was looking at him now, those beautiful eyes of hers fixed on his own. Strange that she could pour destruction out of those eyes that now shone with the bubbly, curious innocence that was Starfire.  
  
"Azerath, Metrion, Zinthos." The spark lengthened into a rip, outlined in white and wavering in the air.  
  
For a moment he was speechless, but then words seemed to bubble into his mind unbidden. "Starfire. Star."  
  
"Yes, Robin?"  
  
"I'm going to another world soon. I may not come back for a long time. I may not come back ever. But I want you to know... I want you to know that wherever I am, whatever world I'm in... I will always think of you. It's you, above everything else, that will give me the strength, the strength to survive in that dangerous world, so I can come back to you. Do you understand me Starfire?"  
  
"Azerath, Metrion, Zinthos." The rip became an opening, as tall and wide as a door. Onlookers could see shapes in it, faint and hazy, as if reflected in a black glass mirror.   
  
Starfire turned her eyes toward the ground as she answered, solemn and sweet, "I will think of you as well, Robin. I will think of you always."  
  
Just then, Raven lowered herself to the ground in front of them. They both tore their gazes from each other to look at her. "It's stable," she said to Robin, "but I'll have to keep a hold on it to keep it that way, so I won't be able to spare the power to lift you up there. Laros can probably manage it, but you'll have to surrender completely to him. It's harder to lift someone who doesn't want to be lifted. You'll have to trust him."  
  
He stared forward, past Raven's shoulder, considering, before at last nodding stiffly. "I suppose I can manage."  
  
"Good. Now for you." She turned to Laros.  
  
"Yes, Fair One?"  
  
"I need you to concentrate. If you drop him, I will..."  
  
"Understood."  
  
"Okay then. Do it."  
  
Laros beckoned to Robin to stand before him. Grudgingly, the other did so. Once Robin was positioned before him, he spread his legs slightly, fixing his feet firmly upon the ground. He raised his hands, closed his eyes, and furrowed his brow.   
  
"Azerath, Kuruk, Teleth." Black and white light appeared around Robin. Unlike Raven's steady power, it flickered like an old lightbulb. Slowly, jerkily, he lifted from the ground. At last he reached the portal, and as simply as if it truly was a door, he stepped through. Laros lifted up behind him, just as jerkily, and followed through.  
  
"How are we gonna get up there?" muttered Cyborg to Beast Boy out of the corner of his mouth.   
  
"I don't know about you, but I got wings and I am not afraid to use them."  
  
Cyborg scowled. "If you turn into a bird and leave me behind, I will blast you out of the air."  
  
"Okay, okay. You think a pterodactyl is strong enough to hold up chubby old you?"  
  
"It had better be."  
  
It was now Raven's turn to pass through the portal. She turned toward the remaining Titan's. "I'll miss you." It was a simple farewell, but they could tell that she meant it, and from Raven, that meant a lot.   
  
She didn't turn away from them as she lifted through the air, but kept her body turned in their direction, her face lifted into the air. She moved backwards into the portal.  
  
"Now," hissed Beast Boy, "we gotta go now." Feathers popped up along his neck.   
  
"Oh no you don't!" Cyborg placed a firm hand on his shoulder.   
  
"Oh, yeah, Pterodactyl."  
  
He hunkered down, ready to transform.  
  
"Starfire!" It was Raven's voice, faint but unmistakable.  
  
Starfire's head snapped up toward the portal. Raven was calling to her, and though her voice sounded as if it traveled across a long distance, it was clearly a cry for help.  
  
"Raven!" She blasted from the ground and was through the portal in an instant.  
  
The moment she was gone, the portal lost its steadiness. It grew larger and then smaller, then larger again, changing shape as well as size.   
  
Cyborg turned to the still untransformed Beast Boy and shouted, "Hurry up already! The portal thingy isn't holding up too good."   
  
"Wait. I just got an idea. Climb up me."  
  
"What? Climb up..."  
  
But instead of Beast Boy, a green elephant stood at his side. Quickly grasping his friend's plan, Cyborg clambered up the elephant's side, onto its back, and leaped at the portal. Even before Cyborg was entirely gone, Beast Boy became a bird and flew through the portal, now a bubbling mass of black light. His emerald tail feathers had barely disappeared when the opening imploded, leaving only a black spark hanging in the air. A moment later, and it too had winked out of existence. 


	6. The Other Side

5-The Other Side  
  
Robin hung suspended amid waves of black energy. White lightning streaked past him, raising every hair on his body on end as it brushed his skin. It was all so confusing, black and white light and faint, ghostly shapes that came in and out of focus, that he didn't know quite what to think. For a split second he thought he saw Raven's face in front of him, but it quickly faded away.  
  
Without warning, the black and white world disappeared. Disoriented by the sudden change, it took Robin a moment to realize that he was falling through the air. Before he could ready himself for the impact, he hit the stone floor with one leg twisted awkwardly beneath him. He heard a sickening crunch, and a moment later pain shot up his leg.  
  
Laros floated lightly down beside him. "Ooh, should have warned you about the drop, Birdman."  
  
Robin glared at the other boy without speaking. Laros sighed and rolled his eyes. "Come on, let me get you untangled and we can see if that leg's broken."  
  
"No thanks; I can straighten myself out."  
  
"Sure you can. Azerath, Kuruk Tel-" Laros fell silent abruptly, his mouth still hanging open, his eyes wide and unfocused.  
  
"What's wrong with you?" asked Robin scornfully.   
  
The Azerathi's legs crumpled under him and he collapsed to the floor, pinning Robin's legs under him. Robin stared at the blue-grey curls tumbling over his lap, and could only think, what? He looked up to see something small, black, and trailed by a ribbon of red fire flying right toward him. Instinctively, he tried to roll out of its way, but Laros' body weighed him down, and he only succeeded in further damaging his hurt leg.  
  
Something hit his shoulder. It hurt very little, like a prick from a doctor's needle, or a static shock, but he could feel himself going numb, all of him at once. His vision went red.  
  
Red? Wasn't it supposed to be black?  
  
Robin knew no more.  
  
Raven emerged from the portal and descended ten feet to the floor. It was just as she remembered it. A narrow corridor, long unused since it led nowhere important, stretched on indefinitely in either direction. Sunlight shone through windows placed high along the wall behind her, dimmed by the thick coating of dust over the glass. It fell on the opposite wall, illuminating rough, stone blocks bare except for the occasional, age-blackened oil painting.  
  
Yes, everything seemed in order. She began to withdraw the power that kept the portal stable. But a sudden thought stopped her. Where was Robin? Something, the shock of seeing her old home again, perhaps, had kept her from noticing that he and Laros were gone.   
  
Maybe they were hidden behind her, keeping silent as some sort of stupid joke. Though that seemed more like Beast Boy than Robin. She turned, and saw something flying at her face. Her eyes flew open as she threw up her hands and with them a protective shield of white-laced black power. Suspended in the shield was a dart, small and black, with a red spark glowing from its tail. Raven let it fall to the ground.  
  
She heard a soft curse. Concentrating on where it seemed to come from, she noticed that the air was moving, ever so slightly, like heat rising from hot pavement.   
  
Invisibility, that was a new trick. She wondered whether Laros hadn't known about it or whether he simply forgot to tell her.  
  
Through the black of her shield, Raven watched as, with a flush of red light, the invisibility dropped away and a Sentinel was revealed standing before her. He was shorter than Raven, a plump body filling out his black and red robes. Beneath the shadow of his hood she could see round, pink cheeks, fat, moist lips, and four small, watery eyes.  
  
For a moment they stood in silence, staring at each other. Then, with a yell that was half grunt, the Sentinel thrust his hands forward. A bolt of black and red lanced from his palms, striking Raven's shield with a burst of white sparks. It burnt into nothing, taking some of her power with it. For a moment the Sentinel seemed surprised that the shield had held. Then he seemed to recover from his surprise and yelled again, throwing another bolt of power at her. And another, and another. Raven's view filled with explosions of white, flashes of red, a wavering wall of black. And with each hit, she felt a portion of her power drain away, while even more was being fed to the portal above her head, keeping it steady. But now she couldn't drop it; it had to remain open. She couldn't get through it herself, no, she couldn't keep up her shield and levitate at the same time, and it would mean abandoning Robin.  
  
But there was one thing she could do.  
  
"Starfire!" she screamed loud enough to hurt her throat; and as the scream escaped her lips, she added a touch of power behind it, to push her voice through the portal. This done, she planted her feet on the stone floor, squared her shoulders in a fighting stance, and fixed the Sentinel's beady eyes with her own. No more sitting still and pouring all of her power into the shield-if she was going to die, she would go out fighting like a Titan.  
  
Something green shot out from above her head, almost hitting the wall but freezing just in time. It was Starfire, in her brightest, greenest, battle-mode. "Raven, what is the-" she looked down. "Oh."  
  
The pudgy Sentinel was gazing up at the strange girl who had just burst through from another world, a look of complete surprise on his face. He was so surprised, in fact, that he had forgotten, for a moment, about bombarding Raven. In one mental stroke she let go of the portal and lowered the shield. With these drains on her power gone, she could feel it surging up within her, longing to be directed at something. And she knew exactly what that would be.  
  
"Azerath, Metrion, Zinthos!"   
  
It had never been like this before.  
  
It was fueled by anger, it was fueled by fear, it was fueled by a fair amount of hate. It came from having all her nightmares come true, of being home. It was as if every drop of power in her entire being converged in one spot within her, drawn from every muscle in her body, every corner of her mind, every dark place in her soul. And then she released it, and it burst from her, not just from her hands but from her entire body. It wrenched her, threw her back, discarded her on the floor.  
  
Lying in a heap, Raven struggled to remain conscious. Through half-opened eyes she saw the power she released surging forward like a black storm cloud, bursting every window it passed and catching up the broken glass. She saw Starfire try to fly out of its path, but it was too fast and too large. The edge of the power barely brushed the alien girl's body, but it was enough to hurl her down the corridor in Raven's direction. Her halo of green flickered and flared, but for all her flying ability she was only able to slow herself down before plowing into the floor. She tumbled and skidded and came to rest just in front of Raven.  
  
The Sentinel, too, tried to escape, but it was no use; he was no quicker than Starfire, and he was in its direct path. It hit him full on and caught him up into its heart and carried him, twisting wildly, arms and legs flailing, down the corridor.   
  
Raven was too tired to keep her eyes open anymore. Much too tired, so tired. Raven fell asleep.  
  
Starfire's head pounded like the Diamond Ocean of Mentearaas Minor. She opened her eyes and saw rough, grey stone. She was lying on her side, her face turned to the floor. She attempted to push herself up into a sitting position, but when she moved, so did the floor. Huh? No, the floor couldn't move; it must be Starfire herself, too woozy to keep the world straight. She closed her eyes once more and very, very slowly pushed herself onto her hands and knees. Finally, she dared to open her eyes, and blessedly, the walls and floor stayed in their proper places.   
  
She looked around and couldn't seem to find Raven, until she thought of looking behind her. Her friend was lying in a crumpled heap in the floor. "Oh Raven! Are you hurt?" But Raven could not hear her. Starfire crawled over to Raven's form and sat looking at her and biting her lip. Deciding that she needed to check Raven for injuries, she reached beneath the other girl's chin and unclasped her friend's cloak. As she very carefully removed the cloak, several pieces of broken glass fell from the cloth. A quick search revealed a mirror stuck into Raven's belt. Starfire pulled it out and looked at it, wondering why Raven had bothered to take such a thing when traveling between worlds. It was a beautiful mirror, its frame twisted bronze set with purple stones, but still not very practical, and Raven was always practical. After a moment's wondering, Starfire decided that since the glass had smashed in the fall, it really didn't matter any more. She tossed cloak and mirror into a pile near the wall and leaned down to examine her friend.  
  
Starfire carefully felt Raven's sides and up and down her legs and arms. Nothing seemed to be broken, though she had developed several large and nasty-looking bruises. Starfire decided that, if neither of them was seriously injured, their most urgent priority was to get out of that corridor before more Sentinel's came to check on the pudgy one. She bent down and slid one arm under Raven's shoulders, the other under her knees, and, lifting, climbed to her feet.   
  
For a moment, looking down a long hallway in an alien world, knowing that Robin was somewhere, probably in deep trouble, carrying an unconscious friend who she now knew was capable of creating a force as powerful as what Starfire had seen, her confidence flagged and she felt Raven become many times heavier. Her knees began to buckle. Then Starfire reminded herself that she had been surviving in an alien world for quite a while now, that she was a Teen Titan. All of her pride returned and Raven became a feather-weight again. Starfire set out down the corridor-deciding it was safer to walk than to fly as long as she was holding an injured teammate- with her head held high and Raven cradled in her arms.  
  
Behind them, a purple cloak, an empty mirror frame, and a few small, scattered fragments of glass lay forgotten on the cold stone floor. 


	7. The Adventures of Cyborg and Beast Boy

Author's Note: You know, what with summer vacation having started at all, you'd think I'd be quicker with my updates. But no. Anyway, this chapter's a bit of a departure from the storyline--a light break if you will. I've found that I really enjoy writing Cyborg and Beast Boy, especially when they're interacting with each other. I hope you'll enjoy reading them as much.  
  
Another thing. I try to make this fic as close as I can to canon, but several people have pointed out my mistakes (thanks guys). In addition to this, there's the fact that Teen Titans is a continuing story, constantly evolving new facts that contradict the ones I've set up. Plus, I've missed several episodes. So there will be a few mistakes, the name of Raven's father being a big one. If this bothers anyone, feel free to consider it an AU fic. If it doesn't bother you, than feel free to ignore it. Thank you for your time.  
  
6-The Adventures of Cyborg and Beast Boy  
  
Cyborg hit the ground hard, on all fours. Immediately, his elbows buckled and his weight pushed his face into the dirt. "Definitely NOT the best way to travel," he said, spitting out dirt and pushing himself into a sitting position. "You know, Raven, you could have tried to make it a little more... Raven?"  
  
He had suddenly realized that Raven was nowhere to be seen, and wherever he had landed, it did not look like a city.   
  
He was surrounded by low, rolling hills, like waves of dirt and yellowed grass. There were mountains along the horizon far to his right, looming, purple-grey and wreathed with clouds. Ahead and to the left, Cyborg could see clusters of trees, miniature forests scattered across the plain.   
  
The thought hit him; he was in the wrong place. Raven's scary black hole dropped him in the wrong place. He wasn't in Raven's City; he might not be in her world at all. That last thought scared him most. He could be lost in a strange dimension, with no hope of ever returning to his own. Lost and alone. Alone, except for...  
  
"Beast Boy!"  
  
Cyborg climbed to his feet and spun around. "Beast Boy!"  
  
Then, he spotted him, a green squirrel perched on a nearby rock. "There you are! Come on, turn back, we gotta figure out what to do." The squirrel blinked at him.  
  
"Come on, dog, turn back already."  
  
Beast Boy turned and leapt off the rock in the opposite direction.  
  
"Hey! Stop you little..." Cyborg jumped over the rock after the squirrel, causing it to streak off into the grass. Cyborg charged after. The squirrel darted back and forth, back and forth, a green flash through the yellow grass. It reached one of the clusters of tress and sprang at a grey-barked trunk, quickly flitting up and disappearing among the leaves.  
  
Cyborg jumped, trying to catch it, and thunked his head on the underside of a branch. "Ugh," he groaned, clutching at his head. The pain was almost gone when her turned and saw, sitting on a fallen log among the trees, the emerald squirrel that was Beast Boy.  
  
Cyborg glared at it. "Okay then. You be stubborn and refuse to turn into yourself and help me. Just sit there, looking all nice and squirrely, and I will just... PULL THAT STUPID TAIL OFF!"  
  
Just as he began to lunge, something long, thin, and purple shot out of a nearby bush, wrapping around the squirrel. Cyborg's eyes grew wide.   
  
"Beast Boy!" He threw himself forward and grabbed the purple thing. It was soft and wet between his fingers. A tongue.  
  
"I've got you, Beast Boy! It's not gonna eat you! Not if Cyborg has anything to say about it."  
  
The squirrel squeaked in panic, scrabbling for purchase with its small, green feet.  
  
Cyborg continued his tug-a-war with whatever thing the tongue belonged to, but the squirrel had stopped moving, and its squeaks were becoming fainter and less frequent. The tongue was squeezing the breath out of its body. Cyborg gave one last pull with all his strength. The tongue snapped with a sound like a cracking whip, and the squirrel went flying, landing at Cyborg's feet with a thump.  
  
"B-b-beast Boy," stammered Cyborg feebly, kneeling and taking the small body into his large, brown hands. It was limp and terribly still, its bushy tail hanging over his fingers and tickling his knuckles. As he stroked it with one finger, brushing its soft fur the wrong way, his one organic eye felt hot and stinging.   
  
"You had a good run, buddy. Even though you were annoying some of the time... most of the time... all right, all the time, you were, well, you were a good guy. And... and...." A tear escaped his eye and ran down his cheek, warm and wet, "And you made green my favorite color!"  
  
"Hey! Who you calling annoying!"  
  
Cyborg dropped the squirrel and sprang to his feet. Beast Boy stood between two tress, hands on hips and smirk on face. Cyborg launched himself at his friend and swept him up into a mighty hug.  
  
Beast Boy flailed his arms and squealed in a way that was very similar to the squirrel. "Erk! Erk! Air! Air!"  
  
"Oh. Yeah." Remembering that beast Boy needed to breathe, Cyborg let go of him.  
  
"The squirrel... It was sitting on the rock and being all green... it ran... and the tongue and... I thought..."  
  
"Nope. Sorry to disappoint, but that's just a plain old ordinary every day green squirrel. Poor little dude. We should give him a proper burial."  
  
"A proper burial? It's just a squirrel."  
  
"You're the one who was crying over him a second ago."  
  
Cyborg looked sheepish. "I'll dig the hole." And he did, bending down and scooping up a handful of dirt, leaving a more than squirrel-sized hole. After Beast Boy placed the squirrel inside, he dropped the dirt over it and patted it down.  
  
Beast Boy plucked a red and white striped flower from a nearby bush. Laying it over the freshly dug grave, he said, "To the little dude who, for a little while, was mistaken for me. It was a compliment to the both of us, and I wish I could have known you better."  
  
Cyborg opened his mouth to say that they should go now, but before he could speak, his smaller friend held up a hand to stop him. "A moment of silence, please."  
  
It seemed to Cyborg that several long and uncomfortable moments of silence passed before Beast Boy signaled that he could speak again. "Uh, Beast Boy...we really should get out of here."  
  
"Why? We don't know where we are, we don't know where we want to go, and this seems a perfectly nice spot to sit and wait."  
  
"Wait? For what?"  
  
"For...for..."  
  
"For nothing. We're in the middle of nowhere, and no one knows where we are!" Cyborg threw his hands into the air in exasperation. "I say we get moving. We're bound to run into some sort of civilization eventually."  
  
Beast Boy seemed to consider for a moment before climbing to his feet. "Okay, okay. I see your point. Lead the way, dog."  
  
"Don't do that," said Cyborg striding out of the trees and into the open.   
  
"Don't do what, dog?"  
  
"Say that. Only I can say that. It's my thing. Not your thing. Your thing is stupid jokes."  
  
"Oh, you mean dog?" With the last word, Beast Boy turned into a green dalmatian and then quickly back into himself, wheezing with laughter as he did.  
  
"Not funny, dog."  
  
"Sure it is, dog!" He turned, in quick procession, into a collie, a terrier, a lab, and was halfway through transforming into a greyhound when Cyborg lunged at him. Beast Boy shot off across the low hills of the plain with all his greyhound speed, yipping with doggish laughter all the way. Close behind was Cyborg, churning along on metallic legs, crushing the grass whenever his foot came down, and yelling his heart out at his friend.

-----

Beast Boy was woken by something poking him in the back.  
  
"Ah, quit it Cyborg! You can stop gloating now; I know you won."  
  
It had been nearly sunset the previous night when Beast Boy collapsed onto the ground in exhaustion from the long chase. Cyborg, who, though slower than Beast Boy's dog form, had much more endurance, soon caught up. The sun had long since set by the time he had finished proclaiming his victory and agreed to settle down for the night.   
  
"Quiet, green one."   
  
Beast Boy flinched. "That doesn't sound like Cyborg."  
  
"Silence!" The voice was deep and thick, with a strange way of shortening the vowels and accenting each syllable that it made the yell sound even more aggressive. "Up." The thing poking Beast Boy's back was removed, allowing him to climb to his feet.  
  
The first thing he noticed about the man was that he was pointing an extremely sharp-looking spear at Beast Boy's nose. The second was that the man was huge, almost as big as Cyborg. It was only then that Beast Boy began to notice other things. The man had pitch black skin, cherry-red hair that flowed in long, smooth braids down his back, and smoldering, slanted red eyes. He wore a dark red leather kilt–at the sight of which Beast Boy had to suppress a giggle–and his chest was bare except for a wide band of the same leather crossing from his shoulder to his waist. A circlet of white beads crossed his forehead–beads Beast Boy had a hunch were made of bone.  
  
Despite the danger, he couldn't help wondering how many animals the man had to kill to create his wardrobe. "Savage," Beast Boy muttered.  
  
"I said silence!" The man lashed out with his spear, twirling it around so that the butt hit Beast Boy squarely across the jaw and sent him staggering.   
  
"Swift Spear! You are not to damage the captive."   
  
"But you damaged the other one!"  
  
The other speaker stepped into Beast Boy's range of vision. This new savage was a bit taller than the other, with a touch of grey in his red braids, and he wore a tall, peaked leather hat, obviously a symbol of authority. Despite these differences, Beast Boy found himself disliking this one just as much as the other.  
  
"The other one would have made it difficult if we had not. This puny green thing is no threat."  
  
It was only then that Beast Boy turned around. There were around seven or eight of the savages hanging about. Many of them were limping, bleeding, or seemed damaged in other ways. The source of these injuries was lying unconscious near by, bound up with so many leather cables it almost looked as if he'd been wound up in a cocoon. Cyborg.  
  
Suddenly, the sight of his friend knocked out and tied up changed Beast Boy's shock into anger. He turned to face the savage in the peaked hat. "So I'm puny, am I?"  
  
Beast Boy exploded upward and outward. Green fur sprouted, claws burst from his hands, his teeth sharpened. He found himself enjoying the savages' yells as they beheld the ten foot grizzly now towering above them. He dropped onto all fours and stepped forward.  
  
The peaked hat savage was visibly shaking–tough guys were often like that; face them with any real firepower and they folded like a blanket. The savage threw himself to the ground, his hat falling off of his head and rolling through the dust. Beast Boy noticed that there were feathers tied to the ends of his braids. So they'd killed birds too? That made him even angrier. He raised one paw, ready to swipe it across the sprawled back... But then he noticed that the savage was saying something.  
  
"Oh great Bestial! I shall die gladly by your most glorious paw, for we have threatened your most magnificent life and do not deserve ours! However, I humbly beg of you, please spare the life of one of my warriors, that he may escort you back to our village. The honor of feeding the Beastial from our own stores, of housing him in our own homes, of serving him with our own hands, would be remembered for generations to come!"  
  
Beast Boy looked down at the back of the savages head. He blinked and pulled his paw back in. He blinked again. Then, his body seemed to collapse back in on itself until he was himself again.  
  
"Well...that's different then." 


	8. The Dark

Authors Note: I do hope you'll all forgive me for spending this chapter on boring character development when you all have been waiting a month for the next piece of the action. The thing is, when I was rereading this story, I found that I wasn't quite sure how I felt about Laros. I sternly believe that you can only write about characters you have a strong affection for, and since he is the only character thus far actually created by me, it should be even more like this. So I used this chapter to flesh him out, give him real dimension. And it worked. I now love him to pieces and wish to coddle and protect him. Don't worry, I promise to FINALLY get back to Raven and Starfire next update! (Though who knows when that will be).   
  
---------  
  
Laros couldn't speak. There was something tied around his neck, probably a leather string, which cut into his flesh and blocked the passage of air just enough to keep him from speaking without too much danger of choking him to death. He had seen the method used before; it was a simple way to keep an Azerathi from using his powers. While Laros could do a few simple tricks without using his Words, they would probably involve blowing something up or knocking something over, neither of which would be very helpful in his current situation.   
  
It was so dark, he might as well have been blind, but Laros could discern a few things. He knew he was chained to the wall because he could feel the smooth, cool manacles on his wrist and the rough, cool stone blocks of the wall against his back. He also knew that Robin was in the room with him because he could hear the other teen's harsh, gasping breaths cutting through the darkness.   
  
Laros leaned back his head and closed his eyes. So this was it then. The end. All of the years of training, of discipline, of finding dark, hidden corners to meditate in, all of it was going to waste. And what good had he done? Had he made even a dent in Hailorn's iron hold over the City? Yes, he had joined the Secret Sentinels, but since then he had been sent on nothing but useless missions. He had spent three months following a cloth merchant who ended up not having any connection with the Sentinels at all. And why? Because Bendris told him to. Most of the time he had been given no assignment at all, just told to wait, hold on, be patient, meditate, practice, say nothing, don't give us away. Laros knew why he was given no useful duties. Laros had always suspected that Bendris didn't like him, and just two weeks earlier, Laros had been given proof: Bendris had told him so.  
  
It had been in one of the old orchards. The trees were so ancient, their thick trunks had become gnarled and twisted, and their roots wove together into a knotted mass over the ground. Even the fruit grew wrinkled and sour–if it grew at all, and so the orchard had been abandoned over a century ago.   
  
The sun had been high and hot when Laros carefully made his way through the trees, but the interwoven branches overhead had formed a canopy that blocked the sunlight and cloaked the orchard in cool, grey-green shadow. He spotted Bendris sitting with his back against a tree and made his way over to the older man. Once Laros was looking down at Bendris, it struck him just how old the leader of the Secret Sentinels was. His eyes stared clouded and unseeing out of a face that was creased and speckled where it wasn't hidden by a wispy white beard. His dark robe hung awkwardly on a body that seemed incredibly thin and impossibly frail, while the hands resting in his lap were almost...monstrous. His fingers curled in on themselves, their cracked, yellowed nails brushing his palm, and blue-green veins bulged from the back of his hands. When Laros looked at Bendris, he forgot, for a moment, who this man was and what he had done, and could only think of how disgusting his age made him.   
  
"Sit." Bendris's voice was surprisingly clear and crisp, as if his throat was younger than the rest of him. "My old neck is too stiff to strain looking up at you."  
  
"It's not as if you can see me, anyway."   
  
"So you think I'm blind, do you?"   
  
Laros remained silent. This man was his leader, and if he wanted to believe that he could see, it was in Laros' best interest to agree with him.  
  
"Sit."  
  
Laros sat. Then discovering that the hard knot of root he had dropped onto was quite uncomfortable, he stood back up, took off his cloak, and folded it into a makeshift cushion. Bendris was silent until Laros had settled down again and stretched out his legs. "Laros Kuruk of the house of Teleth..."  
  
"Yes."  
  
"I do not like you."  
  
"Well, I can't say I didn't suspect something of the kind."  
  
"You're arrogant, adversarial, you needlessly seek out conflict..."  
  
"We're in a rebellion; we're not supposed to be genteel."  
  
"You hide behind your supposed wit and believe that it makes you wiser than your elders. You joined with our cause not for the good of the City, but because of some selfish idea of personal vengeance against Hailorn..."   
  
For the first time during this entire stream of insults, Laros felt his face go hard. "There's nothing wrong--"  
  
"Nothing wrong? With what? With seeking vengeance?"  
  
"Yes!"  
  
"It is wrong for vengeance to be your only reason, your only motivation. It is wrong to support an evil man until you feel his hand on your own throat, and then turn your back on him, not because of the sweeping evil he inflicted on the world, but because of the small evil he inflicted on you."   
  
Laros's face felt hot; he could feel his chin quivering and his hands shake. He was losing control, a feeling he always loathed. He stood up. Retreating was not one of his usual tactics, he considered it clumsy and ungraceful, but he couldn't stand to stay and listen to this blind old man talk about "small evil." Small evil, small evil. There was no way Bendris could have experienced the things Laros had and still call it small. "So it would have been better if I had never joined your Sentinels, would it?" He could feel his voice began to tremble and tried to stop it, tried to keep himself steady, clear, calm, cold. " It would have been better if I just sat around and never tried to fight the man who killed my father, just because I cared more about my own father than a City full of strangers? Because for you bringing down Hailorn isn't a good thing unless its because of some blurry-edged notion of nobility and...and feeling for the plight of others? Well, I feel for my own plight, and that's worthy enough for me!"  
  
There was power sizzling at his finger tips, sparks skittering up and down his arm and burning at the corners of his eyes. For an Azerathi to lose control of his power like that, no matter what the provocation, was inexcusable. It showed he was undisciplined, uneducated, weak. But Laros didn't care. He didn't care that the words he was spewing weren't exactly smooth, eloquent arguments. He didn't care that he was spewing them at the leader of the Secret Sentinels. He was thinking of nothing but those words: small evil, small evil, and they repeated themselves over and over in his mind.  
  
Suddenly Hailorn's voice broke its way through. "I never said that the Sentinels did not need you."  
  
"But I thought I was arrogant and selfish!"  
  
"You are! But you hate Hailorn and we need that. Though it is not quite loyalty we know still that you will never abandon us."  
  
"Just watch me." Laros began to turn away.  
  
"We need you to find Raven."  
  
"I don't care about Raven."  
  
"Do you care about Lady Aleran?"   
  
Laros stopped. Aleran. The name was so familiar, and yet he had not heard it in so long. "What does this Raven have to do with Lady Aleran?" he said, without turning around.  
  
"Everything."  
  
"What do you mean?"  
  
"Raven is Lady Aleran."  
  
At this, Laros turned and stared into Bendris's milky eyes. "Lady Aleran? You want me to find Lady Aleran?" A nod in response. "She isn't dead?" Another nod. Laros felt his power steadily draining, leaving him numb. "I suppose I knew that. Everyone knows that. Or thinks that. But if she isn't dead, then she's lost. And how should I know how to find her? And why me?"  
  
"If you would kindly sit down on your nice, soft cloak cushion and lean back against the nice tree, I will explain."   
  
So Laros sat, and listened and Bendris explained to him just how Hailorn's daughter had disappeared, about the lost Place. Explained that Laros was an opener–Bendris could tell such things. He told Laros that it had come to a point when only Aleran–and the idea of her Azerathi still cherished and even revered–could possibly keep the Secret Sentinels from being hunted out and wiped away, and so she must be found and brought back. And he told Laros, that if she was unwilling to come, to tell her that Bendris was dying.   
  
"Are you?" Laros had asked, taken aback.   
  
"Do you think I could have made my way to this obscure orchard if I was deathly ill? No."  
  
"You want me to lie to her?"  
  
For a moment, Bendris just looked at Laros, and he could swear the old man could not only see him, but see through him and into him. "If you must lie to her than lie to her. We need her. We need Raven."  
  
--------------  
  
Laros remembered those words clearly as he stared into the dark. He had lied to Lady Aleran after all. He had lied and it had worked; she had come. And he led her straight into a Sentinel trap. The only mission of any worth he had ever done for the Secret Sentinels had come to nothing. The only thing of any worth he had ever done had come to nothing. And soon he wouldn't be able to do anything anymore. They would come and execute him, or simply wipe him clean. He would never avenge his father's death, or, for that matter, selflessly save all Azerathi. The end had come, and not only was the world no better because he had lived on it, it was much worse. After all, Hailorn finally had his hands on his daughter, all because of Laros's carelessness.  
  
Now all he was left with was utter blackness and the heavy breathing of some self-proclaimed hero. In fact, was that snoring? The birdman was snoring! All at once Laros found himself less depressed than he was annoyed. He struck out with a foot in the direction of the noise—and was immensely satisfied as it connected with some part of Robin.  
  
"Ummph. Hey, who did that?" So they hadn't tied a string around his throat too? That was awfully careless of them, even if he was from an alien world. "Is that you, Kukuk?"  
  
Laros managed to choke out a grunt in response. "Why won't you answer me?" A few half-hearted squeaks. "Look, I know you don't like me. I don't like you either. But we have to cooperate to get out of here, and if we're going to cooperate you're going to have to talk to me." This time Laros didn't even try to answer. "What is wrong with you?" exclaimed Robin, beginning to sound angry.  
  
So now he was not only going to die, he would have to listen to this idiot right up until the end. Things were looking very, very dark. 


	9. She Was Their Hope

Author's Note: Hmm...No excuse this time. Except that I've become really, really involved in play-by-post writing on storycrafter, to the great detriment of my other literary projects.  
  
The good news was that no one had seen Starfire. The bad news was that Starfire hadn't seen anyone. For at least an hour she had been wandering through a maze of stonewalled corridors, the scenery never changing, and it was getting quite dull. She looked down at Raven head resting on her arm and bit her lip. She was becoming more and more worried about her friend the longer Raven stayed unconscious. The worst part was that Starfire didn't know what to do if she did find somebody, since the chance was high than any person she met would be a bad guy. A regular person might take them in, but it would be hard to explain who they were, what had happened to Raven, and why the Sentinels couldn't be told about them. The best thing would be to find someone who belonged to the group Laros had talked about, the Secret Sentinels. But that was very unlikely.  
  
Starfire turned a corner. She barely had time to register the two cloaked figures flanking the hall before she felt something hard hit the side of her head and crumpled to the ground.  
  
"Oh come on, dear, wake up."  
  
Wake up? Did that mean she was asleep? Starfire's head ached more than it had since that time she drank seven Auraliki Dizzydrink's at a family party. She opened her eyes and saw a green blur hovering above her.  
  
"Who...who are you?"  
  
"You can call me Mother Mindly." The green blur slowly solidified into a large, broud shouldered woman in a green dress with a cloud of dark green curls sprouting from her head. "I'm the healer here."  
  
Starfire blinked. That didn't explain anything. She pushed herself up into a sitting position and looked around. She was in a small, stone-walled room, lit only by a single smoldering lantern hanging from the ceiling on a black iron chain. Against the wall opposite of the bed she was lying in she could see a wooden table piled with what looked like dried plants. There was a faint smell of mildew in the air, reminding her of the blue fungus that had once flourished in the Titan's refridgerator. "Where is 'here'?"  
  
"You're in the headquarters of the of the Secret Sentinels, sweet. I apologize for the impolite manner in which you were brought here; we didn't realize that you were a friend until we saw that you had Lady Aleran with you."  
  
"What? But...but...the Secret Sentinels? Aren't they in Raven's world? In Azerath?"  
  
Mother Mindly snorted. "Where do you think you are?"  
  
"That's what I'm trying to find out!" Raising her voice just made Starfire's head hurt worse. "I can't be in Azerath. I can't. I was standing and watching Raven go through the portal, and Robin leaned over to me and said...he said. Oh, I can't remember! I don't understand!"  
  
"Oh, I was afraid of this," said the green-haired woman, biting her lips.  
  
"Afraid of what? What's wrong?"  
  
"You have a concussion dear."  
  
"How...?"  
  
"Two of our younger members were assigned to keep watch over the entrance to the headquarters that the Teleth boy was supposed to lead you to. But since he wasn't with you, you didn't know the signal, and, well...perhaps our watchmen were a little overenthusiastic."  
  
"Laros wasn't with us? What happened to him?"  
  
"We were hoping you could tell us." The older woman sighed a deep, rushing sigh like waves hitting a shore. "But since you apparently don't remember, we'll have to wait for the Lady to come to."  
  
"Did the guards knock her out too?"  
  
"No, she was already unconscious. You were carrying her, which I must was quite a feat for someone as slight as you!"  
  
"I'm stronger than I look."  
  
Mother Mindly climbed to her feet with a groan and, turning her back to Starfire, headed over to the wooden table across the room. "We think Lady Aleran has suffered from an overpowering."  
  
Starfire wondered if it would make her seem overly ignorant to ask what and overpowering was. Thankfully, Mindly seemed to know that she needed to explain to an outsider. "An Azerathi body can not function without a certain amount of energy. When too much is released at one time the body has to shut itself down, and we call that an overpowering." She gathered together several dried plants and threw them into a red clay bowl, then picked up a fat wooden stick and began rhythmically pounding. "It's not unheard of when someone loses control and can't hedge in their power."  
  
The young girl frowned. Was she saying that Raven lost control? That she couldn't keep a handle on her powers? "Raven meditates for hours each day. I have never seen her lose control. She is master of her power."  
  
"Yes, yes, dear, but that was in your world. No doubt power is easier to handle there."  
  
"But Raven said that it is more difficult to control her power there. So shouldn't she be even better at it here than she is there?"  
  
Mindly paused for a moment before continuing her pounding. "What exactly did Aleran say about power in your world?"  
  
Starfire squinted her eyes and thought for a moment; it was hard to recall the exact words of the conversation over the pulsing emanating from the bruise on the side of her head. "Laros got annoyed and accidently blew up Cyborg's chair," she began, slowly. "He was surprised, he said that no one but an untrained child would do something like that. Then Raven told him...she told him that he would find it harder to control his powers there, that it would take more work than he was accustomed to."  
  
"If what you say is true then...perhaps she had too much control, rather than too little. Maybe her years in your world have Lady Alran so much stronger, so much more disciplined, that when she came here she was able to pull more energy out of herself than ever before. And that much energy would be too much even for her."  
  
"So Raven has too much control over her powers to control her powers?"  
  
"Exactly."  
  
Starfire wondered if Mother Mindly would be any less confusing if her head was less painful. The healer continued. "If that's the case then I know some people who will be very relieved."  
  
"Why? I don't see how they could prefer Raven to become unconscious one way over another."  
  
Mother Mindly turned away from the table and made her way over to her patients side. She had folded the crushed plants into a white cloth which she cradled in one hand. "You have to understand, dear," she said, holding the cloth to Starfire's head, "ever since Lady Aleran left, the people of the City–especially the young ones but plenty of their elders too–have had a tendency to idolize her. You see, she escaped Hailorn, something no one had ever done before, and he had such power over her, too, being her father. It made people think that there must be something special about her. Then Hailorn forbid the mention of her name and that, of course, ensured that it was mentioned even more. They made stories about her return, and whispered them from one to another, friend to friend, mother to child. 'When Aleran comes she will save us.' 'When Aleran comes we will be set free.' That sort of thing. She was their hope."  
  
The pain seemed to be seeping away from Starfire's wound, bleeding into the cloth packet. It made it easier to think. "So Raven was like Zeplar the Joyous, Confident, and Righteously Angered."  
  
"Who?"  
  
"He is a mythical hero among my people. They say that when we are in our direst need, he will return to us, flying out of the sky on his golden hoplid."  
  
Mother Mindly took the packet away and dropped it into her lap, apparently thinking. "Hmm...that is very similar to what Aleran has become to us, except that instead of being a myth, she's real. Most of the Azerathi can still remember her, how she looked, how she spoke, how she acted. It's a lot easier to believe in her than your Zeplar, and that makes her more comforting.  
  
"So, anyway, you can see how some would be disappointed if she turned out to be just a young girl with poor control. Not me, though. I've never held with idolizing someone so young. Too much strain on a girl no older than my little Jimmas, too much pressure. Bound to crack a bit and that would be a horrid shame. No, I never thought of Lady Aleran as a miracle worker, not me." 


	10. The Further Adventures of Cyborg and BB

Author's Note: Update! Yay!  
  
"What?"  
  
"I'm telling you, these people worship me."  
  
"Come on, dog, that just can't be true."  
  
"Well if it wasn't, you and me wouldn't be here right now, would we?" Beast Boy leaned back on his heap of cushions and gazed around the low-ceilinged hut. "Yep, I'm the Bestial and you better believe it."  
  
The lingering headache from being knocked out earlier made it even more difficult for Cyborg to understand what was going on. "So you're their god?" he asked, massaging his forehead with one large hand.  
  
"Nah." Beast Boy traced circles in the dirt floor with his toe. "I'm more like their god's second cousin or nephew-once-removed or something. Haven't really figured it all out myself. The point is, they're all jumping up and down for the honor of waiting on me hand and foot, and that ain't all bad."  
  
"That may mean they won't hurt you, but what's to stop 'em from sacrificing me or something?"  
  
Beast Boy wiped away the drawn circles with the flat of his foot. "Oh, I already explained to them that you're my valued servant. They untied you, bandaged you, cleaned you up–can't say you didn't need that last one. Really."  
  
Cyborg's headache still wouldn't go away. He always hated headaches; they were usually a result of something wrong with body, rather than his cybernetic implants, and so were harder to fix. "Your servant? Couldn't I have been a god-relative-thing?"  
  
"Dude! No! They'd already brought you down, remember? Not exactly god-relative material if you ask me."  
  
Just then, a gruff voice called from outside the hut, "Great Bestial! It is I, Tree Skin! May I enter?"  
  
Beast Boy seemed to consider for a moment. He wiggled his ears, scratched his chin, moved his eyes from side to side. "Hmm...may you enter...let me see...."  
  
"Just let the man in already," Cyborg snapped.  
  
Beast Boy looked quite miffed at having his dignity disturbed. "If you insist." Then more loudly, "Enter, Tree Skin."  
  
The flap of hide covering the hut door was drawn aside and in stepped the barbarian with the peaked hat. "Oh Bestial," he said, bowing in Beast Boy's direction," I hope you find my home comfortable?"  
  
"It'll do. Now, why are you disturbing my well-earned rest?"  
  
Cyborg rolled his eyes at Tree Skin's back.  
  
"Great Bestial, I have just come from discussing your coming with the Tribe Mother. She humbly requests to meet you at the Tribe House. Will you please allow me to present your beastly person to her?"  
  
Beast Boy yawned leisurely. "Sure, I might as well humor the old maid. May I take my servant with me?"  
  
"I am not your servant you little..." Cyborg muttered.  
  
"Shhh. He doesn't know that, remember?"  
  
Tree Skin bowed again and back respectfully out of the hut. "Please follow me to the Tribe House, my Bestial."  
  
Beast Boy leapt nimbly to his feet. "Come on Cyborg old buddy. Let's go meet this tribe mom person."  
  
Cyborg grudgingly climbed to his feet. His headache was started to get a little better, but it still felt swimmy as he steadied himself. He hunched down in order to follow Beast Boy through the low doorway. Once outside, Beast Boy strode up to Tree Skin and clapped him soundly on his vast, black back. "Lead on, Tree, lead on."  
  
"Of course, of course." The barbarian started forward, pausing every now and then to look back and bow his head in a quick gesture of respect. All around them barbarians stopped what they were doing to ogle at Beast Boy. Tall, muscular women with massive bows slung over their backs giggled behind their hands like schoolgirls. He, enjoying the attention immensely, threw back his shoulders and puffed out his chest. "Stand aside, keep your distance, the mighty Bestial's comin' through."  
  
Cyborg dragged his feet in protest, raising great clouds of dirt that clung to his legs and turned the shining metal to dull, reddish-brown. It was quite obvious when they reached the Tribe House that it was what it was. It was round like the other huts, but huge, almost twice as large as the other buildings. It's roof was made of hides, and rose to a sharp peak, like a huge, floppy teepee set on top of the Tribe House's walls. Tree Skin walked to the door of the building, pulled back the hide flap, and stepped aside to let them through.  
  
"Thanks, my good man," Beast Boy acknowledged Tree Skin as he skipped past. Cyborg followed, thankful that this doorway was tall enough to allow him through with only a slight duck of his head. Once inside, he stopped in his tracks. "Wow."  
  
"Yeah," echoed his friend in amazement. "Totally wow."  
  
The inside of the Tribe House was...bright. The windows and roof were covered in chaotic designs painted in red and blue and green and gold, their brilliance almost painful after the red-brown blur of the village outside. The single large room was lit by flickering, yellow paper lanterns strung on twined leather cords. Unlike the Tree Skin's hut, whose floor had been bare, the Tribe Hut was decorated by a massive rug, woven in intricate, blocky patterns of dyed grasses. It was brilliantly beautiful.  
  
"Really impressive decorating," said Cyborg.  
  
"What? Who cares about the decor," snorted Beast Boy. "I was talking about that." He pointed across the room, and Cyborg, following his friend's finger with his eyes, saw his point.  
  
"Oh," he said, dumbfounded.  
  
Across the room, seated on a woven grass throne, was the Tribe Mother. However, as Cyborg could clearly see, she was unlikely to be anyone's mom. She looked as if she were a year or two younger than himself, and she was...  
  
"She's hot," proclaimed Cyborg.  
  
"No duh."  
  
The girl rose from her thrown and strode toward them. She was dressed in leather flaps and puffs of feathers tied together with string. Her cherry-red hair was bound into thousands of intricate braids which were heaped up high on her head and topped with a magnificent headdress. White and brown striped feathers, shiny black feathers the color of her skin, curling magenta feathers, wispy green feathers, bone beads and glittering pebbles, all bound together into a towering mass that perched on the Tribe Mother's head and made her look like a pineapple. Albeit an incredibly attractive pineapple.  
  
"My Bestial," she said, approaching them. "I humble myself before you."  
  
"Well...uh..." Beast Boy blushed. "Thanks. And junk."  
  
"I am Skies-of-Blue, your dutiful daughter, faithful servant, and Mother of this tribe. And is this your servant? The metal golem of which I was told?" Skies-of-Blue looked Cyborg up and down. "And yet... he seems made of flesh as well as metal!" She reached out and laid a slim, shapely hand across Cyborg's chest, then ran it up to his shoulder. He felt his muscles stiffen. "Such an amazing thing, to be able to craft together the warm and the cold together! I am awed by the power of the Bestial, that he has made a servant such as this!"  
  
That was too much for Cyborg. "Hold up just a minute here, lady! You think Beast Boy made me? He didn't make me! He couldn't make a..."  
  
"Excuse my servant!" Beast Boy hastily interrupted. "He doesn't know he's a golem. Golem's never do, and it's annoying because they go around saying 'I'm not a golem I'm not a golem' except they really are, and.... Well, you get the point."  
  
Skies-of-Blue seemed puzzled. "Why doesn't he know he is a golem? Can he not look at himself and see that he's made of metal?"  
  
"Well... you know, golem's aren't the brightest pickles in the barrel."  
  
"Yes, yes of course." She took a step back and bowed her head. The tip of her headdress brushed Cyborg's nose. "Great Bestial, I must admit that this audience was arranged for more than simple greetings. I have a great favor to ask you in the sake of my tribe."  
  
Beast Boy waited for a moment for her to move on. "Well, go ahead. Shoot away," he said when she did not.  
  
"Thank you, Bestial, for allowing me to be impudent enough to ask a favor of you."  
  
"Yeah, yeah, get on with it."  
  
She bowed her head again. This time the headdress actually hit Cyborg's nose, causing him to sneeze. "I'm sure Bestial, having watched over the doings of the Arek-ai from afar, that you know what I wish to ask of you."  
  
"Uh-huh. 'Course I do. you just go over it, briefly? For my golem's sake? And use small words." Cyborg glared at Beast Boy and had to clench his fists to restrain himself from swapping his friend on the side of the head.  
  
"If you wish, my Bestial. . "Golem, your master wishes me to tell you the tale of the War, and so I shall." The Tribe Mother took several steps back. The golden light from the lanterns played dramatically on her glossy black skin and the feathers and stones in her hair. "For aeons, we have warred with the people of the City-in-the-Desert, and the war has been harsh, and costly..." 


	11. The Underground

Mother Mindly had made Starfire a cup of hot, brown liquid she called 'quakwa'. The young girl sat cross-legged on the bed. The spicy, smokey flavor of the quakwa was very strong, and she found herself unable to take more than a small sip at a time.

"Who are you, Mother Mindly?"

The large woman laughed. "What a strange question! I hardly know how to answer."

"It is simply that–I hope I am not being impolite in saying this–but you do not seem the type of woman to be involved in..." Starfire trailed off, unsure of what word to use to describe the Secret Sentinels.

"The resistance?" Mother Mindly supplied.

"Yes."

"Well, you're exactly right, dearie. I would never be here if it weren't for my husband. It was him that got the family into this whole business. He was always a good man, Ond, and brave, of course. But rash, with more passion than was good for him. I was angry with him after he joined the Secret Sentinels. How was putting himself in danger, you see, and our son as well, without ever asking me what I thought about the matter. But I soon found that the Sentinels had need of my skills... and it felt wonderful to help them." Mother Mindly's gaze was fixed on nothing, a thoughtful expression on her face. "And after all has been said... I'm glad that Ond dragged us all into the resistance. Poor, obstinate Ond."

A sneaking suspicion stole over Starfire. "Is... is he dead?"

Mother Mindly smiled very slowly. The smile was soft, almost wistful, but within it Starfire thought she could detect deep, deep sadness. "No, my husband is not dead. You'll have a chance to meet him, soon enough."  
Starfire wondered what this meant. Had she only imagined the sadness is Mother Mindly's smile?

There was a knock at the door. "Come in!" the woman called loudly.

The door opened and a boy of about eighteen stepped inside.

"Oh good!" Mother Mindly exclaimed, beaming. "Jimmas, I want you to meet out guest. Isn't she pretty? And I gather that she's from another planet. Exotic, don't you think?"

"Yes of course Momma," said Jimmas, sounding flustered, "but, you see, Lady Aleran woke up and she keeps on saying she needs to see the other girl, and, well..."

"Naturally she wants to see her friend. We'll go to her now."

"Yes, Momma, but she won't stay lying down and we kept on telling her she needed to rest but she wouldn't listen and... well..."

"Out of my way!" said a low voice from behind him. He jumped aside as if shocked and Raven strode into the room. Someone had changed her out of her Teen Titans uniform and into a sort of loose fitting grey tunic. She looked strange out of her usual costume, it seemed to Starfire, friendlier and much less witchy.

The expression on Raven's face, however, was just as grim as ever. "Are you alright?" she asked Starfire.

"I suppose that I am."

"Then get up. We're going to see Bentris." Raven turned to face Mother Mindly. "Where is he? Where's Bentris?"

"I'm sure I don't know, dear. He does seem to move about so much, doesn't he? But he'll come to talk to you as soon as he knows you're here, don't you worry. Now, when you interrupted us I was in the middle of introducing your friend here to my boy, but now I realize that I never asked her name! How silly of me!"

"I..." Starfire looked up at Raven. The other girl said nothing, the expression on her face annoyed but resigned. "I am called Starfire."

"Oh, a beautiful name. Don't you think so, Jimmas? And so unique, too. Jimmas?"

The boy blushed and said nothing.

"Forgive my son," said Madame Mindly to Starfire with a knowing smile. "He's always shy around pretty girls."  
This remark seemed to exhaust Raven's patience. "Please, ma'am, there's no time for this. A friend of ours has been captured by the Sentinels and I need to speak to Bentris now."

The effect of this statement on Starfire was like a bomb exploding nearby. She sat, stunned, for only a moment before she shot to her feet, dropping her still half-full cup of quakwa, and grabbed Raven's arms. "What? Are you speaking of Robin? What has happened to him? How did he allow the Sentinels to capture him? What will they do to him? Please, Raven, tell me!"

"I don't know." And in Raven's calm voice was an admonition to Starfire to be calm herself, a reminder that their situation demanded that both girls remain level-headed. "When I came through the portal, both he and Laros were already gone and there was a Sentinel lying in wait for me. I don't know how, but they knew about the Eight Place of the Portals, and that we'd be coming back through it. Somehow, Father knew."

Behind Raven's back, Mother Mindly drew in her breath sharply. "I had never expected! Oh dear... I believe you are right, Milady. You must speak to Bentris as soon as possible. Go and find him Jimmas; there must be someone who knows where he is."

"That will not be necessary." All heads turned to see a very old man standing in the open door.

Bentris led them out of Mother Mindly's room.

"It is a sewer!" said Starfire in surprise.

Raven was looking ahead at Bentris's back. "A bit cleaner than that."

The headquarters of the Secret Sentinels was located far beneath the city. Starfire and Raven were in a narrow tunnel, its walls and ceiling dark and slimy with moss. To the left of them the floor dropped away to a river that foamed by several feet below. The tunnel was dimly lit by lanterns affixed to the walls with iron brackets.

"It's a natural river that runs underneath the City," Raven informed her friend. "It's also where the Azerathi get all their water. See." She pointed out a pipe that ran up from the river to the ceiling. The pipe was as wide around as a barrel and the metal was black with age. There were other pipes, spaced far along the tunnel. "Waste is emptied into the river much farther along, right where it leaves the ground beneath the City. The pipe system dates from the building of the City, so most people don't remember anything about it. They think water originates magically in their faucets, if they think about it at all. Even the Sentinels don't know that there are ways down to the river, so you can see how it's a perfect place to hide away."

"Oh. A bit gloomy, is it not?"

"I like the gloom," said Raven. And she did. Despite her years of exile this underground place was as familiar to Raven as her own room in Titan Tower. It was more her home than her father's apartments had ever been, and the darkness and even the wet, mossy smell reminded her of a time when she felt safe.

Bentris stopped at another door and unlocked it. Inside was a small room containing a table, chairs, and a bed against the wall. He settled onto the bed, his legs crossed beneath him. He made the bed–no more than a low wooden bench softened by cushions–seem like a royal throne. " Black light swept up two of the chairs around the table and turned them to face Bentris. "Sit."

Starfire obediently dropped into a chair, but Raven remained standing. "You're not sick after all, are you?" The old man merely smiled. "Then Laros lied to me?"

"We had to get you here somehow, did we not?"

"You always were a son-of-a-Arek-ai, Bentris."

"It wasn't a complete lie, my daughter. I may not be on my death bed, true, but I am a very, very old man."  
Raven could see that this was true. Even in the few years since she had last seen him from a man who was old but fit into a frail and twisted ancient. Now his scalp was bald and spotted, and his eyes—she had remembered those eyes as being bright green and scalpel-sharp. Now they were colorless, red-rimmed and blurry. There was a sense, about Bentris, of an old and decrepit building held up only by steel props, as if it was by willpower alone that he kept from collapsing into dust.

Raven sat down and folded her arms. "So what am I expected to do now?"

"The Azerathi love you, Raven. Even before your escape you were their future ruler, their Lady Aleran--a pretty, pitiable thing to be watched and loved by her subjects. Since then you've become a heroine out of a bedtime story. The beautiful princess who was able to slip out from the shadow of her evil father."

"Mother Mindly said you were their hope," said Starfire softly.

"So?" Raven asked. "What does this mean? What do you want me to do about it?"

"What are you to do? Well, you must understand. The Secret Sentinels have been fighting for a long time, a pitifully small force struggling against the giant of Veldrek's legacy. And our fight is hopeless. If we go on like this, we will never win, and the City shall always be held in chains."

"And how am I supposed to change that?"

"Don't you see? The Secret Sentinels can not defeat Hailorn on our own. But, if all the Azerathi of the City rose us and fought with us, we would have hope again."

"Why don't they, then? They must hate Hailorn as much as either of us."

Bentris shook his head sadly. "But daughter, people are weak. They are scared and uncertain and cautious. They would never give their loyalty to someone such as me, or to anyone but you. Only you can command the hearts of the people, only you can stir them into uprising.

"The revolution is coming, Raven, and you will be its heart."


End file.
